Gold prices eased but remained above $1,400 an ounce level and were on course to post third straight weekly gains during Asian trading hours on Friday as cautious investors wait for the all-important, non-farm payrolls report. Not even weaker U.S dollar supported bullion prices on Friday as investors wait for the job data before taking any positions. Silver prices also edged lower in early trading on Friday.

The job numbers will provide reasonably good idea over when the Federal Reserve would start winding down its economic stimulating measures or quantitative easing (QE3). In case, the labor market shows weakness then the Fed will be compelled to extend its bong purchase program, which will be gold supportive.

At last check, gold futures for August delivery fell 0.31% to 1,411.20 an ounce while spot gold was almost flat at $1,413.16 an ounce

Silver futures were down 0.54% to $22.59 an ounce.

In a note to investors, Brian Lan, managing director GoldSilver Central, Singapore, said, “Investors are expecting the Fed to come out and say that they will continue with the monetary easing because many believe that the nonfarm payroll will not be as good as expected,” according to Reuters.

According to Reuters’ poll, the Labor Department’s non-farm payrolls report is likely to show barely any improvement over the previous month’s numbers, implying that the world’s number 1 economy is still not yet out of the woods.

“The housing and labor markets are not very strong yet. The Fed has to keep in mind the impact on stock markets as well,” added Lan.

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.